Sunsea Shaw
In a final tune-up before the 2011 Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships, the Northern Illinois track and field team will travel Friday, Feb. 18, to Muncie, Ind. to compete in the Ball State Quadrangular.
With just a week left before MAC Championships, the Huskies will face MAC foes Ball State, Western Michigan and Miami (Ohio) at the BSU Quads.
Competition for the Huskies will kick-off at 5 p.m. with the weight throw. On the track, events are slated to begin at 6:15 p.m. with the 60-meter hurdles preliminary rounds. Action will conclude with 4×400-meter relay, which is set for a 7:50 p.m. start.
As NIU enters its final competition of the regular season, head NIU track and field coach Connie Teaberry is eager to see how the Huskies carry the success of the season into their final indoor competitions.
“We’re really excited to compete this weekend,” Teaberry said. “The Ball State Quads gives our girls a final chance to tune-up before we head into the conference championships. It will be a chance to see some conference competition, being that three other schools from the MAC will be there. We’re excited to see how we perform at this meet as we begin to gear up for MAC Championships next weekend.”
Courtney Oldenburg
Friday’s four-team event will be scored based on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale, with only two participants from each school able to score in each event. While the BSU Quadrangular will be scored, Teaberry is not concentrated on the scoring but rather the mental focus of her Huskie squad.
“We hope to see the girls’ mindset and attitude focused on competition,” Teaberry said. “This is the last regular-season meet of the season and we want to see the girls compete with the same attitude and focus that they are going to have next weekend.”
Entering the weekend NIU holds some of the top times in the MAC. The 4×800-meter relay quartet of Rebecca Cronin, Nora Ferguson, Courtney Oldenburg and Sunsea Shaw hold the second-best time in the MAC (9:44.70). Cronin joins Erica Miller, Erin Milner and Rasheta Butler as part of the 4×400-meter relay team that currently ranks eighth (3:56.36).
Also claiming an eighth-place spot heading into the weekend are Roneisha Frye and Jenner Sio. Frye holds the eighth-place mark in the 60-meter hurdles (8.81), while Sio ranks eighth in the triple jump (37-08.50).
Among the top Huskie performers in the MAC is Rhonda Lee who is 15th in the 60-meter dash (7.70), while Ferguson is 14th in the 1,000-meter run (3:08.57). In the field, Kelly Moser is ranked 15th in the high jump (5-03.75) and Mary Bull is 15th in the shot put (40-09.50).
Following the Ball State Quadrangular, the Huskies will head to the 2011 MAC Indoor Championships, hosted by Bowling Green Friday, Feb. 25, and Saturday, Feb. 26.
For more information on NIU track and field and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.
